A Hero's Tale

  "I'll clean it, master," he said. "I'll clean it and bring it back before first light."

  The man growled at him, but let him go. Matha turned away and winked at me. He took the banner from its standard, shook it out, folded it carefully, and tucked it into his belt.

  Now we had only to find a way to get in among the prisoners. Our baskets held a few loaves of bread, left over from the evening meal. Scattered among the campfires were some half-eaten loaves. I started to gather them up and gestured to Matha to do the same. When our baskets were full, we carried them to the place where the prisoners were kept.

  Their guards each had a fire against the chill of the spring evening. The fires made a ring around a circle of darkness. A guard stopped us and examined the contents of our baskets, then let us pass. The light of his fire dazzled our eyes, and we tripped over several people before we could see well enough to find our way.

  The prisoners reminded me of the prisoners in Merin's house. Their warrior spirit had gone out of them. They hardly noticed us, until we began handing out the loaves. Then the hope of satisfying their hunger kindled a little flame of life within them.

  I saw many women among them. It had been so long since I had seen a woman among warriors that the sight of them surprised me. This much they had in common with my people.

  When our baskets were empty, Matha asked for their leader, and they took us to a woman old enough to have retired from the battlefield.

  Matha asked me what to say.

  "Tell her their chieftains are coming in the morning," I said.

  Matha did have a few words of their strange tongue, but he made himself more clear by signs. The woman seemed to understand.

  "Tell her Elen isn't to be trusted," I said.

  Matha scratched his head. Then he said the name, "Elen," pointed to the tents, and made signs of swords falling on the prisoners and on their chieftains. For one who hardly spoke the language, he was doing very well. Too well. A murmur of alarm went through the crowd around us.

  "Quickly," I said. "Tell them we will help them."

  Matha gestured to me and to himself, then in the direction of the camp, and made the sign for many. He must have found the word for help or alliance or something similar, because the prisoners grew quiet.

  "Tell them we are also enemies of Elen's house," I said. "Tell them we will warn their chieftains."

  Again he gestured to me and to himself and to the rest of our companions, then made a sign of swords falling on the tents, presumably on Elen and her captains.

  The woman looked puzzled. She said a few words to a man who sat beside her, and he got up and left us. When I would have said something else, she gestured to me to wait.

  The man was back a moment later, bringing with him two young men who addressed us haltingly in the language of the mighty. Between the two of them, they had enough words to understand me and to make themselves understood. I wasted no time trying to explain who we were and what our purpose was. They believed me when I told them what Elen meant to do with them. I laid out our plan for them and asked them to repeat it back to me, to make sure they understood it.

  "In the morning you will escort our chieftains to the queen's tent," they said. "If you leave it with drawn swords, we must come to help you."

  I nodded. "Matha will stay close by you and watch for our signal. You must be careful not to alarm the guards. It will seem natural to them that you will be watching for your chieftains, as long as you look like you're only waiting patiently. Don't give them any reason to suspect that you're planning something."

  The young men nodded.

  "Did you tell them the swords are in the wagons?" Matha asked me.

  I shook my head. "I'm afraid if they know that, they will act too soon."

  "Tell them I'll lead them to the weapons, once we discover where they are," he said.

  I did as he suggested. As I rose to go, the woman took hold of my arm. She asked me, through the two young men, why I would help them.

  "Elen holds a hostage who is dear to me," I told her. "I intend to take her back, and your escape will cover mine."

  She nodded that she understood.

  After we left the prisoners, Matha and I carried our empty baskets in the direction of the wagons. No one took any notice of us. When we reached them, we set our baskets down, and, like curious boys, we peeked inside each wagon until we found the ones we wanted. There were swords and spears and axes, arms enough for at least half the prisoners.

  By the time we rejoined Bru, most of his men had already gone.

  "I'm sending them out a few at a time," he said, "so that we are not all seen to leave at once."

  Over the next hour, the rest of them wandered off, as if they were looking for others they might know, and while no one watched but me, they slipped into the darkness. Bru and I were the last to leave. Bru whispered a few words to his son, who handed him the eagle banner and went to find himself a place closer to the prisoners.

  When we were beyond the reach of firelight, I heard a night bird call. Bru led me toward it, and there we found our companions. To follow the trail left by the northerners' retreat, we had no choice but to pick our way through the battlefield. The moon, half-hidden by mist that drifted not far above our heads, cast an eerie light over the bodies of the fallen. The back of my neck began to prickle, and it was all I could do to control my imagination. The more I tried not to think of them, the more I saw their spirits taking shape in the mist. Then something moved at the edge of my vision, a shimmer of silver in the moonlight.

  "Wolves," said Bru.

  I didn't need anyone to tell me that they were feasting on the dead.

  "We can't bring the northern chieftains back this way," I whispered.

  "Why not?" asked Bru. "Are they afraid of ghosts?"

  "These are their friends," I said.

  Bru took my arm, a little roughly, and pulled me away from the others.

  "Will your woman's heart endanger us?" he asked me. "Tell me now."

  "What does my woman's heart have to do with anything? Does not Elen too have a woman's heart?"

  "Elen has a demon's heart," he said. "I know your heart means well, but it holds too much compassion and too little anger for waging war."

  Maara had once told me much the same thing, but I had begun to appreciate my gifts. Had not my compassion brought these very men to help me?

  I knew what Bru wanted. He wanted his leadership undisputed. And I thought there might be something else.

  "You have no cause to doubt me," I told him. "Use your own knowledge of the battlefield. Will the sight of their dead comrades leave the northerners unmoved? Might it not fill them with grief and so take the heart out of them?"

  "More likely the sight will fill them with rage," said Bru. "If anything, it will put the heart into them."

  "And that will suit us even less. When we take them before Elen, they must control themselves, and they must look defeated, not belligerent."

  We had stopped walking, and now stood face to face. The others had stopped too. Though they were out of earshot, they knew what Bru and I were arguing about. They had expected this dispute, and they were waiting for the outcome.

  "If you don't trust my leadership," I said, "then leave me here. Go back to Elen's camp, or go back home. I am in your debt already more than I can repay, and I will not think less of you because you mistrust my ability on the battlefield. No one will follow poor leadership for long, and if they do, it is their own responsibility."

  Finn took several steps toward us. I believe he meant to help me, but I motioned him away. This was something Bru and I must settle between ourselves.

  Bru would not go back. That much I knew. He would feel himself dishonored if he abandoned me now. I had to find a way for him to trust me. It was my leadership he doubted, not my intentions. If he found me wanting in ruthlessness, perhaps I could make up for it with insight.

  "Bru," I said. "Have I not told you everything? Have I kep
t secrets from you?"

  Slowly he shook his head.

  "Yet there's a secret you've kept from me," I said. "Perhaps you have even kept it from yourself. I intend to rob Elen of her prisoner, but I think you mean to rob her of her place."

  Bru's first instinct was to deny my accusation, but the words died before they crossed his lips.

  "She is in my place," Bru whispered. "I am the son of kings."

  This was more than I expected. I knew that his people were in exile, but I had not guessed that Totha's heir now stood before me.

  "If the opportunity presents itself," I asked him, "will you challenge Elen on the battlefield?"

  Abruptly Bru sat down. "I hadn't thought that far ahead. I hardly know what I intended. I'm afraid to hope that we might succeed."

  I knelt down before him. "In Elen's camp, how many are there of the mighty, and how many of your clansmen and the common folk?"

  "Without the king's brother, they are about equal in number, but he has brought hundreds more."

  "If all happens as we planned," I said, "if we take Elen's prisoner from her in the king's name, Elen will confront him, and the mighty will be divided."

  Bru stared at me. He hadn't thought of that.

  "If they come into open conflict, will you challenge her? Tell me now, and I will do all I can to help you."

  Bru motioned to the others to join us, and there on the battlefield, surrounded by the dead, we made our plans.

  84. The Northern Chieftains

  We chose Finn, who was more diplomat than warrior, to go back to Elen's camp, to take counsel with Bru's kinsmen. He was not to reveal our plan, but to sound their leaders out, to see if they would rally to Bru's cause if there were any hope of victory. I knew I could count on Finn to insinuate and to suggest, to prepare them for what might happen in the morning, to put the plan into their minds in such a way that they would believe they had thought of it themselves.

  We stopped far enough beyond the battlefield so that none of Elen's army would find us if they came out searching for more dead to plunder. There we waited for the chieftains of the northern tribes. As the dawn drew near, the mist turned to a dense fog that lay close upon the ground. I worried that the chieftains would slip past us, but at last we heard the soft clink of arms and the murmur of voices. They came to us as shadows, insubstantial, appearing and disappearing as the fog swirled all around them. If I had not been expecting living men, I would have mistaken them for apparitions.

  We went to meet them. As soon as they saw us, they drew their swords, and I feared they had come to fight, but when I saw how terrified they were, I guessed that they had mistaken us for ghosts of the battlefield.

  First we disarmed them. They gave up their swords reluctantly, but they had no choice. We outnumbered them three to one. There were seven chieftains, all men, and a young woman who bore no arms. She must be the go-between.

  The chieftains' shields bore the animal devices of their clans, a boar, a stag, a weasel, and a few more fanciful I had no names for. None bore a wolf shield, but one did wear a wolfskin, not in the way the forest people did, but with the head atop his helmet and the body trailing down his back. I saw his eyes rest on Bru for a moment. Then he looked surprised. Bru knew him too.

  I stepped between them. "Who speaks for you?" I asked in the language of the mighty.

  The young woman stepped forward. "I do," she said.

  I had spent the night working out in my own mind what to say to them, but first I asked Bru not to look quite so threatening.

  "That is the very man who came to me," he said.

  "Good," I replied. "Now he will have the chance to make amends."

  Bru stepped back, but neither man would be the first to look away. They stood glaring at each other, stiff-necked and bristling, like dogs about to fight.

  I left them to their silent contest and invited the northerners to parley.

  Their go-between was skillful, though a little hard to understand.

  "Who are you?" she asked, meaning not me, but all of us.

  "We too are enemies of Elen's house," I said. "We know her well, and we have seen how she deals with those she has defeated. She has laid a trap for you, and here you all are walking into it. Your chieftains are going to their deaths, and your comrades into slavery."

  Bru was right. They didn't believe me. Little by little I handed them the pieces and let them put the puzzle together for themselves. I told them what would happen when they were in Elen's power. I made a picture in their minds of their own helplessness once they entered Elen's camp. I reminded them, without insulting them, how little they had to bargain with. I told them what they already knew -- that Elen had attacked them without cause, without provocation. Why would they believe she intended less than their destruction?

  Then I asked them for their help. I told them about Maara, that she was Elen's hostage and I meant to set her free. I told them of the factions that made up Elen's army, and how we might succeed in setting them against each other. I told them about the king's brother and showed them his banner, which would allow us to go before the queen. I told them of our plan to arm their friends. I answered frankly every question they put to me, and at last I won them over.

  Whether or not they believed everything I told them, they agreed to join forces with us. Two had sons among the prisoners. All had friends and kin among them. They would not turn back, not even to avoid a trap.

  Bru and the wolfskin chieftain had evidently settled their dispute. Each had taken the measure of the other and, at least for the present moment, set their differences aside. Bru's men fastened the northerners' weapons to their own packs in such a way that the chieftains could easily rearm themselves. As I had done with the prisoners, I made their go-between say back to me our plan, to make sure they understood it.

  They had an idea I hadn't thought of. They asked my permission to send one of their number back to their camp, to bring all who were still fit to fight to cover their retreat. I gave my consent, and we agreed on a gathering place, a high hilltop south of the battlefield.

  Bru grumbled a little. It was a risk. He had been thinking of the northerners as a distraction, a few hundred prisoners and their chieftains, outnumbered, lightly armed, causing just enough consternation to let us get away. Instead they would become an army.

  "An army that may side with us against a common enemy," I said. "And even if they don't, the mighty may believe they will."

  Bru took my advice. He didn't lead the chieftains back the way we came. We skirted the edges of the battlefield, depending on the fog to hide the dead. The fog also hid our approach to Elen's army. We stopped outside the camp and waited for the fog to lift. The sun was rising.

  While we waited, I asked Bru for my wolfskin. He still had my few belongings in his pack.

  "Elen knows me," I reminded him. "I thought I might have to take a helmet from a dead man, but the wolfskin will do just as well."

  Bru opened his pack and handed it to me. I settled it over my head and fastened it with a thong around my neck to hold it in place. I wore the body down my back, like the wolfskin chieftain, and pulled the face down to cover my eyes.

  "Better you should wait outside," said Bru.

  We had agreed that Bru would do the talking and that most of his men would remain outside, blocking the entrance to the tent. There wasn't room for all of them inside it anyway, and the men outside would watch for trouble while preventing Elen's men from going in.

  I was determined to be at the center of whatever was about to happen. "I'll go in as if I'm with the chieftains," I said. "I'll stay well hidden among them."

  "All right," he said, and glanced at my bow.

  If I was going to pretend to be the enemy, I would have to go unarmed. One of Bru's men took my bow and quiver and fastened them to his pack.

  The light grew and still we waited. The fog stubbornly refused to lift.

  "Let's go," Bru said, "before they're all awake and fed and have
their wits about them."

  "The prisoners won't be able to see our signal," I said.

  "Doesn't matter. The fog will hide us well enough. After we leave Elen's tent, we'll find them. Then their chieftains can take command of them."

  I explained this change of plan to the northern chieftains. I drew on the ground a map of Elen's camp and showed them where they would find the prisoners and the wagons. Then we took up our positions, Bru's armed men surrounding the northerners, and started through the camp.

  Though the sun had been up for half an hour, most of Elen's men were still asleep. The few who were awake huddled around their cooking fires and shivered in the damp. Our sudden appearance out of the mist startled them, but they had been expecting the arrival of the northern chieftains, and once they saw the eagle banner, they believed we were what we appeared to be, their escort.

  We made our way through the encampment without causing alarm. I could not yet see the tents, but when we passed through the line of wagons, I felt the ground begin to rise as we ascended the hill. The fog thinned a little. Then I saw the palisade of spears and heard a voice issue a challenge.

  A sentry emerged from the mist.

  "My lord the king sends the queen a gift," said Bru, holding up the eagle banner.

  The sentry waved the northern chieftains forward. The chieftains, reluctant to leave the circle of our protection, hung back. Bru took a few steps, as if to lead them to the tents, but the sentry blocked his way.

  "We have a message for the queen," Bru said. "Let us pass."

  "The queen is not prepared for visitors," replied the sentry. "Leave these men with us. When she's ready, she will summon them."

  Bru shook his head. "I am instructed by my lord," he said. "I am to take them in to her with his greeting, and if we are prevented, I am to take them back to him. He will not be pleased to see them." Then he stepped closer and whispered, "The man has a lover's heart. Let him indulge it a little. He has prepared a surprise for her, a wedding gift."